Donna Gray’s drawing Sweet Delights is on display at Eagle’s Nest.
The PebbleCreek Art Club is delighted to present Donna Gray as our May Artist of the Month. Donna, an active member of our PebbleCreek community, inspires club members with her creativity and energy. Donna and her husband Joe have been married for 50 years and have two children and four grandchildren. Donna was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and after graduating from college she taught at an elementary school until she married and started a family. They then decided that Donna would be a stay-at-home mom while the children were young.
Several years later the family transferred to Michigan where Donna became a substitute teacher and worked in the school system for nine years. She then decided to change direction and began taking courses in order to become a travel agent. About that time, Joe’s job brought them to Seattle where Donna worked for 10 years as a travel agent and office manager. Donna and her husband were happy in the Seattle area but after several years decided to leave the rain and head toward the sun. They moved into PebbleCreek in 1999 and have loved it ever since.
Early on Donna became involved with Showtime Productions and later also joined PC Players. She maintains she has “always loved theater and over the past years performed in many shows acting, dancing, singing and doing comedy bits, as well as lots of hours working backstage. No great talent here—just like doing it!” Her other activities include being a co-instructor of a Yoga Club and a member of the PebbleCreek Women’s Investment Club.
Other than a few art classes in college, including Art Appreciation and Teaching Children Art, Donna has had no formal art training. About six years ago she took a Colored Pencil class taught by Sherri Van Schaick and was hooked! She took several more classes from Sherri and concludes, “I love it! I find the pencils so convenient and easy to use. I can work on my projects at home watching television or out on the patio. I have even taken them on road trips. When I’m out and about, I always have my camera close to catch an unexpected subject for a drawing. And of course, I’m still learning.” Donna appreciates the process of creating in colored pencil—-especially focusing on details. She especially likes finding quirky subjects and enjoys giving them whimsical titles. “Theater and yoga are group activities,” she believes, “but colored pencil is more like quiet therapy!” In addition she has added Zentangle to her artistic repertoire.
Donna exhibits regularly in the Expressions Gallery and has sold multiple paintings in the 2015 and 2016 Fall Art Shows held in the Tuscany Clubhouse. You are invited to view Donna’s paintings on display; one painting called Spider Mum in the Tuscany Falls Clubhouse and another entitled Sweet Delights in Eagle’s Nest. In addition, please see her work in the Creative Arts Center.